The following piece was written by Danishyar Musta, a 20-year-old Afghan, now living in harsh conditions in Kavala, north of mainland Greece.
Imagine you are a stranger in a strange land far from home.
Imagine you are in a refugee camp that used to be an army airport, far from everything.
Imagine the closest village is 7km away from you.
Imagine that for a small shopping trip, you must walk 7km because there is no transportation.
Imagine you are freezing in a container or a tent during winter and boiling in the summer, especially when there is no electricity, which is most of the time.
Imagine you are not safe and Imagine that your children and family are not safe when they want to go out to play.
Imagine there is a fight around your container at midnight and wakes you up from a sweet dream. Every night people are drunk and come and hurt each other. There are no police. In the end, the police come and just call the ambulance because they know an ambulance won’t when a refugee calls.
Imagine you could not sleep well from the day you arrived here.
Imagine you are in a camp where there is a lack of doctors
Imagine you are living in a camp with 1200 residents and there is a lack of services, especially healthcare and education.
Imagine you are in the camp for more than three years and you cannot communicate in Greek and your children can’t either because no one has taught them well.
Imagine there is no one to help your children or to find a way to integrate them into the community and help them make friends with some of the local kids and learn the language faster.
And so and so on………….. I know It’s not fair. It’s not right, but it is the reality which we face in Nea Kavala camp every day. And we are suffering and waiting for our long-term asylum.
Thousands of refugees' lives are on hold – stuck in an endless waiting game and uncertainty of the future. You can help to raise awareness of the present injustice by spreading stories like Danishyar's. Please join our city chapters and spread the word.